Apparatus for electrical signaling



March 31, 192s. 1,531,629

- G. o. SQUIER APPARATUS FOR ELECTRICAL SIGNALING Filed Aug. e, 1920 l nous,

APatented Mar. 31, 1925.

` UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

APPARATUS FOR ELECTRICAL SIGNALING.

Application lei August 6, 1920. Serial No. 401,647.

To Il whom, 'it may emi-cern.'

lie it known that I, `(rEonoE O. SQUIER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at lVashington, in the District of lt'ilumbia, have invented a certain new and use-ful Apparatus for Electrical Signaling, of' which the following is a specification.

J1`his invention relates to the art of electrical communication, telephony and telegraphy, and a system for use in'practicing the same.

The object of the present invention is to eliminate the return conductor in electrical communication systems, reducing thereby the cost of installations and simplifying the equipment required. A further" object of the invention is to afford improved utilization of apparatus and other means for alecting electrical signaling.

In this invention an entirely new departure is made in which open circuits are used, connecting two communicating stations by a single conductor in air, in water, or in the earth, but the ends of' which are free from earth connection, thus constituting an open circuit, and utilizing the potential developed on the conductor to actuate a potentially operated indicator.

In my patent application Serial No. 352,- 651, I have described a method of electrical signaling over a bare conductor submerged in' water or buried in the earth 1n which there is a ground connection at the transmitting end and the receiving end open, and utilizing a potentially operated indicating instrument.

This invention is a further improvement resting on the discovery that electrical communication can be maintained between static-iis over a single conductor entirely free from any earth connections at either end. The principle involved is that of' establishing a potential wave at one end of the conductor, guiding it along the conductor and adopting some suitable means for detecting the potential wave at the other end of the donductor. This is in a sense a combination of' wire and wireless signaling in that it involves the utilization of wave energy which is guided in a definite path along a conductor and it also combines the advantages of both systems; the utilization of wave energy making it possible to use only a single conductor and also accomplishing multiplexing, while the use of a conductingv guide of the wave energy insures the same secrecy in communication as is obtained in ordinary wire telephony or telegraphy.

The principle of operation and the method of' using my invention can be better linderstood by -reference to the accompanying diagrammatic figures which show typical embodiments of the invention and form part of this specification.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 isthe diagrammatic view of this system for carrying out the invention in which the transmitting source and the indicating device are connected at the two ends of the line;

Figure 2 sho-ws a modified arrangement in which resonance wave coils are inserted at both ends of the line for tuning purposes and for locating potential maximum; and,

Figure 3 is a further modification illustrating the wire submerged in water but having both ends thereof l:free or open.

Having' more particular reference to the drawings and in connection with which like characters of reference will ldesignate cor-y responding parts, in Figure l, line 1 is connected at point 2 to an alternating current potential source 3, and at point 4,the line 1 is connected to an indicating device 5. The principle of operation is briefly as follows: Connecting a potential source 3 to the conductor 1 sets up a potential wave which is propagated along the conductor, and its effect noted at any desirable point on the' conductor by connecting a suitable potentially operated device at that point. For best results it is preferable to use high frequencies so that either the wave length employed or the length of the line may be readily adjusted so that the length of the line may be some multiple of the wave length of the potential employed and the detectorconnected to a loop of potential point on the line thereby obtaining a higher sensitivity., The alternating potential source may be any one of the well known types; an electron tube oscillator, an alternator, or an arc2 or any other arrangement by means of which an alternating potential of' any desired frequency may be impressed upon the line. The con uctor connection t'o the line may be direct as shown in the figure, or any other electrical connection-electrostatic or electromagnetic.

In Figure 2 the modified arrangement is shown in which two resonance wave coils 6 and 7 are connected at both ends of the line,

A.the transmitting source 3 is connected at and specific apparatus, it Will be underpoint 2 to resonance wave coil 6 and the instood that many changes and modifications dicatin instrument 5 is connected electromay be made Without departing from my statica y through a sliding metal ring l() invention, as defined in the appended claim.

6' to resonance Wave coil 7. The connections I claim:

of the transmitting source 3 and detecting'v A system of electrical signaling comprisinstrument 5 are adjustable on the two reing a sin le conductor openat both ends and spective Wave coils 6 and 7. The pur ose entirely isconnected from the earth, a pair of the resonance Wave coils in the circuit is of resonance wave coils, one of said coils l0 to enable the adjustment of the Wave length being connected to each end of said conducof the conductor system so as to bring it tor, a source of alternating current poten,- into resonance with the wave length of the tial of desired frequency connected to said potential source. The detector connection conductor, means for modulating said altercan be adjusted so as to be at the loop of nating potential source including means for 15 potential oint on the coil 7. setting up Wave developments along said It is to e understood that the line l may conductor, said alternating source being be, if desired, submerged in a body of water connected to a pointon one of said resoas shown in the Figure 3 designated at l1, nance Wave coils, and means for detecting the opposite ends of such line having conseparately the potential effects Vof each of 20 nection With av transmitting source 3 and a Sind potential Waves ai? the receiving points detecting instrument 5, but, obviously, being ofthe conductor, said last named means open, that is, having no connection in any comprising a potentially operated detector manner with the earth. l connected to a point on the other of the two Whereas I have described my invention said resonance wave coils. v 25 by particular reference to specific procedure GEORGE O. SQUIER. 

